“The Weekend Wanderer” is a weekly curated selection of news, stories, resources, and media on the intersection of faith and culture for you to explore through your weekend. Wander through these links however you like and in any order you like. Disclaimer: I do not necessarily agree with all the views expressed within these articles but have found them thought-provoking.
“Evangelical School Exemplifies Special Needs Education in Jordan” – Jayson Casper in Christianity Today: “en years ago, evangelicals in Jordan helped pioneer inclusive education for students with disabilities. A decade later the minister of education patronized their commencement event. Founded in 2014, Alliance Academy Jordan (AAJ), owned by the local Christian and Missionary Alliance (CMA) church, began with 54 students in kindergarten through second grade. Adding a grade level each year, its first graduating class of two students completes a now 350-student body—17 of which have disabilities ranging from cerebral palsy to autism and ADHD. Another 31 have different levels of learning disabilities that require special class support and attention. Over the years, AAJ has enrolled 71 such students altogether. It is a drop in the bucket. In 2017, the Jordanian government launched a 10-year plan for nationwide inclusive education. AAJ was on the initial advisory committee of the Higher Council for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities that prepared it. American funding is helping Jordan meet its goal of 30 public inclusive schools in its major cities by 2025, mandating professional development for all. Another 30 schools are planned for less-developed areas after that.”
“Motherhood and the Intellectual Life: What kind of knowing is maternal knowing?” – Laura Fabrycky in Comment: “Fear prevented me from writing or thinking my way out of my inner conflict. What I feared most was that my own labours among little people in the home had no recognition in the record of knowledge. It was terrifying to consider that for all the mind I was giving as a mother to particular others, my labours at knowing—coming to understand that my infant’s delicate blink was a subtle cue of fatigue; enjoying but not interrupting the storied chatter of his toddler play—would fall under the shadow of that which is assumed, taken for granted, and so often devalued. I see this younger me with tenderness, recognizing that she was on to something. For the thesis has been reliably stable and simple: Mothering is intellectually demanding work. I long insisted on saying ‘mothering,’ and not ‘parenting,’ because caring for one’s young and the home in which loved ones dwell has so long been the provenance of women. But I have since relaxed my grip on this. For one thing, I have known too many women and men who have yielded freely to the demanding givenness of human life, characterized by long, loving attention of other particular human beings in the wider world. These qualities belong to no single gender, nor solely to people with biological progeny. And as I have learned to attend to the deeper character of relentless care, my awareness of the richness of what counts as intelligent labour has grown. It took me years—long, slow years—to articulate this thesis for myself.”
“A show of faith: Harvard Law Professor Ruth Okediji explains why she believes music — and faith — foster hope in difficult times” – in Harvard Law Today: “Shortly before Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his legendary ‘I Have a Dream’ speech at the March on Washington in 1963, iconic gospel singer Mahalia Jackson performed an electrifying version of the spiritual “I’ve Been ‘Buked, and I’ve Been Scorned.” As Jackson sang, some in the audience closed their eyes in reverence, while others swayed gently in time with the music. At Jackson’s final note, the crowd, once transfixed, burst into applause. Although an undeniably powerful moment, this was not the first time — nor would it be the last — that music would serve to ground, fortify, and uplift African Americans in the fight for civil rights, or others who are going through difficult times, says Ruth Okediji LL.M. ’91, S.J.D. ’96, the Jeremiah Smith, Jr. Professor at Harvard Law School. In fact, Okediji says, faith has long played an important role in the lives of many Black Americans, with worship music providing strength, joy, and hope, even amid oppression. And one way that faith is made manifest in biblical Christianity is through music, particularly hymns, she adds. ‘A confidence in the Bible and its life-giving precepts made it possible for people to, day after day, week after week, month after month, get up again, and say, ‘”We’re going to continue with faith and in this struggle, whatever the day might hold.”‘ Hoping to introduce a new generation to this rich tradition of hymns, the Program on Biblical Law and Christian Legal Studies, of which Okediji is the founder and faculty director, held a worship night at Harvard Memorial Church on February 28.”
“Faith can help heal our polarized country” – L. Gregory Jones at Religion News Service: “It’s commonplace today to say we are living in an era plagued by political, religious and social unrest. The barrage of headlines continually erodes our confidence in our national leadership and unravels the ties that bind our local communities together. Despite the tools we have to increase mutual engagement, our society is profoundly disconnected, and instead of promoting understanding, the isolation and competition these technologies seem to promote have affected our mental health. We recognize all this, but we too rarely ask why this has come to pass. The challenges we face today stem from a fundamental lack of compassion, empathy and genuine understanding. Social media platforms, while providing unprecedented access to information and to one another, somehow curb our ability to conduct respectful, nuanced conversations. While they provide superficial communication in abundance, we have lost sight of the importance of deep, meaningful dialogue. It’s up to us to invest time and energy into building relationships with the neighbors we consider adversaries and seek to understand their perspectives. When we make this shift, our perceived enemies are suddenly revealed to be friends.”
“A Living Inheritance” – Noah Guthrie on The A Rocha blog: “Sylvie Vanhoozer’s The Art of Living in Season reminds me of a French camellia: petals within petals, each layer enfolded in the next. Throughout the book, Vanhoozer depicts her childhood in the southern French town of Provence, then enfolds it in her cultural inheritance of the santons (the ‘little saints’ of Provençal manger scenes), enfolds that in the cycle of the seasons, and enfolds that in the cycle of the church calendar. Together, they form a single blossom of culture, ecology, and spirit. As she reflects on these linked themes, Vanhoozer encourages her audience, as ‘saints on an everyday pilgrimage,’ to ‘relearn how to walk’ (Vanhoozer 8). She invites us to slow down and pay attention. To take time to contemplate, on one hand, ‘the seasons of the church that teach us about Christ’s life and ministry,’ and on the other hand, ‘the seasons of nature that reveal the goodness of our Creator’ (7). Cycles of church and nature: the book explores both in tandem, starting with early winter and Advent, then circling to late spring and Pentecost, before transitioning to Ordinary Time, to which half the book is dedicated. Though you can read the book straight through in a couple of weeks, you can also read it as a year-round devotional, timing each chapter to overlap with your current point in the church calendar.”
“A church offers training in faith and finance” – Leslie Quander Wooldridge in Faith & Leadership: “The service at Kingdom Fellowship AME Church opens with a lively praise and worship session, including music from five singers standing onstage. It looks like what could be a typical Sunday gathering at the Calverton, Maryland, church. The lightly padded pews are filled with people who’ve gathered on this rainy morning, and remote viewers are watching the livestream. This is not a typical service, however. It’s happening on a Saturday, for one thing. A projection that reads ‘Faith + Finance,’ in part, rises behind the singers. And though the speakers will reference Bible passages, this nearly three-hour session is focused on how those gathered in person and online can better understand the process of credit utilization. What does credit have to do with faith? Quite a bit, as it turns out. When the Rev. Dr. Daryl L. Williams takes the stage, he explains that, as his dad taught him growing up, your credit is your name. From a biblical standpoint, ‘the name that you carry is the most important thing that you have,’ he says, citing Proverbs 22:1 (NIV): ‘A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.'”
Music: Wilco, “Love is Everywhere (Beware),” from Ode to Joy
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Matthew Erickson 